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Prope

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Prope Limited
Native name
株式会社プロペ
Kabushiki-gaisha Purope
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
FoundedMay 23, 2006 (Foundation)
June 1, 2006 (Operations began)
HeadquartersJapan
Key people
Yuji Naka
Number of employees
40 (until April 2017)

Prope Ltd. (株式会社プロペ, Kabushiki-gaisha Purope) is a Japanese video game development studio founded by Sonic Team head Yuji Naka, along with 10 other former Sonic Team staff.

The company name means "near" in Latin.

Formation

As part of Sega's "support program for independent game creators", Yuji Naka left Sega's Sonic Team studio to start his own studio, joined by ten Sonic Team members. It had a starting capital of 10 million yen, 10% of which came from Sega in exchange for the right of first refusal for publishing Prope games.[1] Prope was founded on May 23, 2006 and began operations on June 1.[2]

Prope intended to create games with a graphical style that appealed to both children and adults, and to explore the possibilities of developing both 3D and 2D games.[3] Naka joined Square Enix in January 2018, leaving the status of Prope uncertain.[4] In March 2019, Naka confirmed that Prope had been reduced to a one-person company since the end of April 2017.[5]

Naka released SHOT2048 under the Prope brand in December 2021, his first game following his departure from Square Enix back in April.[6]

Games

Previously, the studio had been consistently linked with a sequel to Nights into Dreams...,[7] though Nights: Journey of Dreams was ultimately developed by Sega Studio USA. Naka has claimed in an interview that he presently has no intention to revisit any of his former Sega properties.[8]

Prope's first two titles, the Wii rhythm game Let's Tap, and the WiiWare game Let's Catch, were both released in December 2008. Both games were published by Sega.

After a series of simplistic iOS games such as 10 Count Boxer and Fluffy Bear, under the iPrope label, Prope's next major game Ivy the Kiwi? was released in November 2009 exclusively for Windows Phone, with Microsoft publishing it. In April 2009, it was ported to WiiWare and DSiWare and published by Bandai Namco in Japan, Xseed Games in America and Rising Star Games in Europe as Prope's parent company Sega refused to publish the game and Bandai Namco decided not to publish the game outside Asia. In 2010, an expanded physical release (in contrast to a digital one) was released for Wii and Nintendo DS, featuring 50 levels (whereas the downloadable version featured 25) as well as original backgrounds and music for each level.

In 2011, Prope released Real Ski Jump, which, as of 2014, had been downloaded 4 million times.[9]

iOS/Android

Published under the iPrope and aPrope label respectively

  • Let's Tap (2009)
  • 10 Count Boxer (2009)
  • Fluffy Bear (2009)
  • Just Half (2010)
  • PD -prope discoverer- (2011)
  • Real Ski Jump HD
  • Get the Time (2011)
  • Past Camera (2011) (photography app - not a video game)
  • Power of Coin (2011)
  • Nine Dungeon (2011)
  • Real Animals HD (2011)
  • Flick Pig (2011)
  • Real SkiJump Battle (2012)
  • Ivy the Kiwi? (2012)
  • Buddy Monster (2012)
  • Real Whales (2013)
  • E-Anbai Just Right (2014)
  • Samurai Santaro (2014)
  • Kodama (2015)
  • Real Whales (2015)
  • Shock Maze VR (2015)
  • Crazy Open Car (2016)
  • God & the Bell Kitty (2016)
  • 10 Battle (2016)
  • Pirates of Coin (2016)
  • Kizumon (2017)
  • Shot2048 (2021)

Nintendo DS

Nintendo 3DS

PlayStation 3

PlayStation Portable

Wii

Windows Mobile

Xbox 360

References

  1. ^ "Yuji Naka forms new studio funded by SEGA". Idle Forums. 8 May 2006. Archived from the original on 17 June 2006. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  2. ^ "IGN: Yuji Naka Forms Prope". Archived from the original on 15 July 2007. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  3. ^ "Prope (Yuji Nakas studio) website relaunch - NeoGAF". Archived from the original on 2023-01-12. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
  4. ^ Phillips, Tom. "Sonic creator Yuji Naka joins Final Fantasy maker Square Enix". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  5. ^ "Yuji Naka On Prope's Status: Downsized To One-Person Company". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  6. ^ Shakir, Umar (20 December 2021). "Former head of Sonic Team releases new self-made mobile game". The Verge. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  7. ^ "C3 News :: Nintendo News | Naka Says No to NiGHTS on Wii". Archived from the original on 2007-03-28. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  8. ^ "GamesRadar+". gamesradar. Archived from the original on 2010-09-04. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  9. ^ "株式会社プロペ 公式サイト". iprope.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-01-30. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  10. ^ Ransom, Ko. "Sonic Creator's Prope Studio Develops Digimon Adventure RPG". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2018-12-23.
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